Mozart Ave Verum Vocal Score

In April of 1791, Leopold Hofmann, who was Kapellmeister at St.
Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, fell gravely ill. Mozart, who had never
been an avid composer of sacred music, nonetheless saw an opportunity to
enhance his income, and maneuvered to succeed Hofmann. Towards this
end, he turned his attentions again to sacred music, culminating
ultimately with his Requiem. (As it happens, Hofmann survived Mozart,
and died in 1793.)

Mozart set the Eucharistic hymn Ave verum
corpus in June 1791. This setting was dedicated to his friend, Anton
Stoll, who was chorus master of the parish church in Baden, and it was
first performed in Baden at the Feast of Corpus Christi. If you wish to buy Mozart's Ave Verum, please click Vocal Scores and then FILTER BY COMPOSER, or see below for more.

It is
possible that Mozart set this hymn mindful of the Imperial ban on
elaborate concerted music, or it is possible that he was working with
the limitations of Stoll's choir. One way or another, his setting is
remarkable for its compact simplicity. There are a mere forty-six bars
of music, with orchestral writing that serves to provide introduction,
transition, and ending, and double the choral parts. The choral setting
is simplicity itself, with the choir mostly singing the same text at the
same time. This direct approach would suited a reform-minded Austria
where textual clarity and brevity were all-important in church music.

Mozart's
setting is far from pedestrian or undistinguished. (It actually isn't
even complete; the text below includes the last two verses, which Mozart
omitted from his setting.) There is an unusual modulation from D major
to F major at the text, "whose side was pierced, whence flowed water and
blood,", and the simplicity is the sort that Artur Schnabel famously
described as too simple for children and too difficult for adults (after
all, simple music like this exposes any lapses of rhythm, intonation,
or ensemble). And the music seems to encompass a universe of feeling in
forty-six short bars.

Hail, true Body, born of the Virgin Mary,who has truly suffered, and was sacrificed on the cross for mankind,from whose pierced side flowed water and blood,Be for us a foretaste of heaven, during the trial of death.(O Jesu sweet, O Jesu merciful, O Jesu Son of Mary,Have mercy on me. Amen.)